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Friday, January 30, 2009

DA Newsletter 30 January 2009

Reports surfaced this week that President Kgalema Motlanthe is poised to appoint Muzi Wilfred Mkhize as the next National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) to succeed Advocate Vusi Pikoli.

If this happens, it will trigger a constitutional crisis.

Advocate Mkhize was a member of Jacob Zuma’s defence team when Zuma first appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on corruption charges in October 2005. Under no circumstances should Mkhize be put in a position to decide whether or not his former client should be charged with 783 counts of fraud, bribery and corruption. That would constitute a clear conflict of interests.

If President Motlanthe appoints Mkhize, it will be clear why the ANC nominated Motlanthe as President when Thabo Mbeki was “recalled” last year. The conclusion would be irresistible that the ANC required Motlanthe to appoint a compliant National Director of Public Prosecutions who would make the charges against Zuma go away. Then Zuma would have a clear run for the Presidency without the cloud of an imminent corruption trial over his head. The first step was to fire Pikoli. The second step, according to this line of analysis, is to appoint a Zuma man as the country’s chief prosecutor, in accordance with the ANC’s infamous deployment policy.

Motlanthe appears to be resisting this mandate, which could be part of the reason for the move by the ANC to isolate him.

The dangers of appointing Mkhize to this high office are underscored by an episode from his own career history. He has been both player and referee in a legal matter before.

In 2005, Mkhize chaired an internal disciplinary inquiry in the Ubuhlebezwe (Ixopo) Municipality, in which he found the chief financial officer guilty of misconduct and recommended his immediate dismissal. It subsequently emerged that prior to the hearing, Mkhize had given the municipality a written legal opinion on the issue, and recommended what charges should be laid. His opinion stated that “on those charges he [the chief financial officer] will be found guilty and be dismissed”.

Mkhize's ruling was overturned on review before the Natal Provincial Division. He was found guilty of professional misconduct by the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Advocates, and ordered to pay the society a fine of R10 000 – the maximum amount which could be imposed under the society’s rules.

Mkhize’s integrity has been put to the test once before, and was found wanting. Now it seems that the ANC wants to entrust him with one of the most important constitutional offices in the country.

Never mind the fact that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act requires the NDPP to be a “fit and proper person”, whose appointment must be made “with due regard to his or her experience, conscientiousness and integrity.”

Never mind the fact that the Constitution requires the prosecuting authority to exercise its functions “without fear, favour or prejudice”.

That is of no concern to the ANC. Such is the ANC’s disdain for the law and the Constitution. Last week it was considering deploying convicted fraudsters like Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Tony Yengeni to Parliament. This week it is reported to be getting ready to install Zuma’s former defence lawyer as the head of the NPA. This is the man with the final power to decide whether or not Zuma will answer the case against him in court; a man whose bias towards the ANC President and whose history of double-dealing should immediately raise question marks about his ability to perform his constitutional duties without fear, favour or prejudice. He should never have been considered for the position in the first place.

But as with Madikizela-Mandela and Yengeni, so with Mkhize: the ANC is prepared to contemplate the most unsuitable candidate for the job, as long as he or she can be expected to do the ruling party’s bidding. It’s a case of choosing malleability over merit and compliance over competence.

To add insult to injury, only the President can appoint Mkhize since the Constitution confers upon the President the power to appoint the National Director of Public Prosecutions.

This would be a stitch-up worthy of Robert Mugabe himself. It would be the ultimate abuse of power and the ultimate triumph of the “higher law of the party” over the rule of law. It would be the politics of the closed, crony society – in which the ruling party’s ruling clique promotes and protects its network inside and outside the party while the network, in return, protects and promotes the leadership – come full circle.

And, because the President would be willfully violating a provision of the Constitution in appointing Mkhize to an institution whose independence is protected by the Constitution, it would trigger a constitutional crisis.

The most galling aspect of Zuma’s campaign to avoid justice is the way in which he and the ANC have undermined the Constitution and its institutions in the interests of self-preservation.

The saga began with decision by Zuma and his inner circle to disband the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO, or “Scorpions”) and replace it with a Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation located in the South African Police Services (SAPS). Locating the new unit in the SAPS suits the ANC, since it is far easier for politicians to interfere with the work of the SAPS than the NPA because of the constitutional guarantee that the NPA must operate “without fear of favour”.

The saga is currently unravelling further in Parliament, as ANC MPs try to steamroll the joint ad hoc committee reviewing President Motlanthe's dismissal of the former NDPP, Vusi Pikoli – the man they view as Zuma’s nemesis. The ANC seems determined to rubber-stamp President Motlanthe’s decision, despite the recommendation by the Ginwala Commission that Pikoli be reinstated.

And the saga will culminate if and when Muzi Mkhize is appointed the National Director of Public Prosecutions in Pikoli’s stead so that he can drop the charges against his old client.

Clearly, that would be an untenable outcome. In any event, the DA does not believe that the President should have the sole prerogative to appoint the NDPP, since this undermines the constitutionally-entrenched principle of the separation of powers.

We advocate the establishment of a body similar to the Judicial Service Commission to oversee the appointment of National Directors in future. This, we hope, would help to resolve the present anomalous situation in which the National Director is a political appointee, appointed purely at the behest of the President. For that reason, we are busy preparing to submit a Private Members Bill which would make the necessary alterations to the existing NPA Act.

If enacted, it would go some way to averting the kind of constitutional crisis that Zuma appears determined to create.

Social workers, police and prosecutors believe that Muller prefers to send black children to court – while withdrawing cases involving their white counterparts.

“This leaves black children with criminal records for life,” said a concerned senior justice official.

Sowetan can reveal that Muller’s colleagues have now complained to the National Prosecuting Authority. They have also approached the senior magistrate at the Johannesburg family court, Daniel Thulare, to deal with the matter.

The justice official said yesterday: “Whenever we are dealing with juveniles we have a mandate to divert them into rehabilitation programmes so that they don’t have criminal records. People who work in Carlette’s office claim that she prefers to send black kids to court while diverting their white counterparts.”

In August last year Muller apparently decided to prosecute a 12-year-old black child despite social workers, who investigated the child’s circumstances, recommending he be sent into the rehabilitation programme. The minor, whose name is know to Sowetan, was accused of stealing clothes worth R1000.

We can further reveal that a month earlier she had recommended that a 16-year-old white girl, bust for theft of clothes valued at R2900, be sent to a rehabilitation centre.

This was despite further testimony by the suspect’s mother that she was a drug abuser and that she was stealing things from home in order to support her habit.

A few weeks later Muller was said to have withdrawn theft charges against a 16-year-old white youth – despite social workers requesting the boy be detained at a centre while they investigated his case.

Thulare said yesterday: “I can confirm that social workers and members of the public did complain to me about … diversions along racial lines and I have brought the matter to the attention of the NPA.”

Thulare said Muller has in turn accused him of defamation.

“I have been aware of these complaints for some time. In my view the solution to the whole problem is to do a proper investigation,” Thulare said.

Muller, when approached by Sowetan, said: “I am not prepared to talk about that matter.”

She then stormed out of the office.

Dennis Bloem, the chairman of the parliamentary portfolio committee on correctional services, told Sowetan: “Social workers and other prison officials have complained that whenever a black child has been arrested they are denied bail.

“And when a white child is involved prosecutors go out of their way to get relatives or guardians so that the juvenile could be released. We have heard that some of the prosecutors are not consistent when they apply the law.”

NPA spokesman Tlali Tlali said yesterday: “ The NPA will institute an inquiry in order to determine what the state of affairs is before taking any corrective action, if one is warranted.”

Sowetan News

Comments by Sonny

We thought that everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Who is running to the press and spreading untruths now!

If she were painted with another brush, maybe Carlette Muller would have been the

WE WILL SEE A NEW SOUTH AFRICA......If

Say it with a sting.....

JOHANNESBURG SA 28 Januaqry 2009 10:58

Yes We Can

While the ‘Against all Odd’s’ victory, of Barack Obama, over the Republicans in the USA, is still fresh in every South African’s mind, we can, as one great aspiring nation, defeat the ANC, in the forthcoming 2009 Elections.

The only secret is that we will have to stand together as one and run a campaign, second to none, against the failed oppressors of the poor, sick and needy in this Country.

We can fight and win against government corruption.We can take back our Country from Organised Criminals.We can stabilize our failing economy.We can restore service delivery.We can restore faith in the Judiciary.We can restore faith in our police force.We can stamp out nepotism in awarding tenders.We can rid parliament of criminals and convicted felons.We can restore faith in our failed health system.We can stamp out poverty.We will rid this Country of a “one party state!”

We need CHANGE in order to WIN!

We need to WIN in order to CHANGE!

We must mobilize all South African, including the young, old and Ex-Pats to combine their votes against the ANC!

WE WILL WIN BACK SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL ITS PEOPLE, IRRESPECTIVE OF RACE, COLOUR AND CREED! WE WILL UPHOLD OUR CONSTITUTION.

Friday, January 23, 2009

thoughts to ponder upon

Say it with a sting.....

Citizen Alert ZA Without fear or favour.

Friday, January 23, 2009David Rattray - RIP 1958 -2007

David Rattray -RIP 1958 -2007

Last Updated: 1:07AM GMT 29 Jan 2007

David Rattray, who was murdered on Friday aged 48, was a self-taught historian and became an internationally renowned expert on the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879; as a prominent figure in South African tourism, he was instrumental in putting the remote battlefields of the eastern province of KwaZulu Natal on the tourist map.

The battle of Isandlwana on January 22 1879 was arguably the most humiliating defeat in British colonial history; hours later, at Rorke's Drift, 139 British soldiers successfully defended their garrison against an intense assault by 3,000 Zulu warriors. Rattray interpreted Isandlwana as a Zulu triumph rather than as a British disaster, tempering history-book accounts with authentic testimony he had personally collected from the Zulu side.

A fluent Zulu-speaker, he deconstructed the gung-ho version of events that had informed the empire's children for more than a century and infused it with fizzing anecdotes drawn by him from the grandchildren of Zulu survivors, now working the land as farmhands and goatherds.

Rattray used these oral histories as the basis for talks and lectures, not just as a raconteur at his tourist lodge near the battlefield site, but also to specialist and academic audiences around the world. The result was as moving as it was electrifying, for Rattray was a gifted storyteller, and his narrative skills were known to have reduced even visiting top brass from the modern British military to tears.

"To listen to David Rattray narrate the story of Isandlwana was akin to watching the best-scripted, best-directed and best-produced movie Hollywood's finest studios could put out," one South African commentator recalled. "It was goose-bump stuff."

Rattray's remarkable ability to transport his listeners back to the day of the battle, and to recreate its sights and sounds, earned him the accolade of "the Laurence Olivier of the battlefield". It also placed him in great demand as a speaker in South Africa and elsewhere. He addressed capacity audiences at the Royal Geographical Society in London on more than 20 occasions, and was elected a fellow of the Society in 1998.

Rattray's passion dated from his childhood. In the 1960s his father had bought 10,000 acres of bush on the banks of the Buffalo River, including the ford (or drift) across which most of the 55 British survivors of Isandlwana fled. Young David visited during his school holidays, learning Zulu and listening to the stories of a local tribal chief whose father had fought in the battle. What he heard completely changed his view of what had really happened more than 100 years before.

When he was 30, Rattray moved to his family's farm near Rorke's Drift with his wife Nicky to start Fugitives' Drift Lodge, from where they guided tourists around the battlefield sites. In its original state, the guest house had been the home of Johan Potgieter and his family. Rattray's mother Gillian, a noted writer and artist, had immortalised "Mr Pot" in her award-winning book The Springing of the Year (1980), which she also illustrated.

In the early days Fugitives' Drift was slow to attract custom; then, in 1995, a travel article in The Sunday Telegraph brought it to wider attention. As the lodge's facilities expanded and grew, so did Rattray's reputation as one of the country's great storytellers. His account of the Isandlwana massacre struck one visiting journalist as "a timeless indictment of man's stupidity, and yet at the same time a tribute to his nobility of spirit". "He created a picture in the mind's eye," explained another, "in the way that only a great storyteller can do."

David Grey Rattray was born on September 6 1958 at Johannesburg. Educated at St Alban's College in Pretoria, he went on to the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, to read Entomology, graduating in 1982.

It was while looking for beetles and other insects at Umzinyathi House, an old farm near the Zulu battlefields, that Rattray first encountered native Zulus and listened to their stories, piecing together the battle narrative as told from the Zulu point of view.

His interest having been kindled by his childhood visits to the battlefields with his father Peter, a former Johannesburg lawyer, Rattray's fascination with Zulu lore was nurtured by a lifelong friend, Mzunjani "Satchmo" Mpanza, who accompanied him on his expeditions and taught him to speak Zulu.

Such was Rattray's obsession with what he considered to be the untold story of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift that he determined to make it his life's study. This decision was accelerated by the accidental destruction of his beetle collection: when his mother left the door of the cabinet open, other parasites got in and reduced the contents to dust.

He worked as chief executive of the Mala Mala game park before marrying and starting a tourist lodge business in Namibia. This did not prosper, and after the couple's first son was killed in an accident in infancy, they returned to South Africa, settling at the family property in 1989.

Rattray had spent several years writing A Soldier Artist in Zululand, based on paintings by a British officer who had fought at Isandlwana. The pictures had been found in Britain by some guests who had visited the lodge; although they offered them to Rattray as a gift, he insisted that they should share in the royalties of the book, which is due to be published next month.

More than anyone else, Rattray established battlefield tours as a mainstay of the South African tourist industry. He kept snakes on the terrace at Fugitives' Drift for the benefit of guests; he also created a game reserve as part of his lodge complex, and welcomed many dignitaries there, including Prince Philip, the Oppenheimers, the trades union leader Cyril Ramaphosa and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

In 1997 Rattray met the Prince of Wales when the Prince and his two sons took a short holiday at Fugitives' Drift following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales; Rattray was subsequently invited to Balmoral as the personal guest of the Prince and was invited by him to attend the private funeral of the Queen Mother in 2002.

The Prince also supported Rattray in his fund-raising efforts to modernise a local school overlooking the battlefields and attended an auction at Sotheby's in London in 2000 alongside two Zulu princes and the education minister for KwaZulu Natal. The following year, at the Prince's invitation, Rattray delivered the inaugural lecture in the Laurens van der Post memorial lecture series at St James's Palace.

Rattray was honoured by the Royal Geographical Society in 1999 when he received its Ness award in recognition of his work in widening popular understanding of Zulu culture in southern Africa. In 2002 he returned to London to receive a Tatler travel award for "Vision in Tourism".

David Rattray was murdered by intruders who shot him in his family quarters at Fugitives' Drift. He is survived by his wife Nicky and three sons. Posted by Tango at 11:57 AM Labels: David Rattray Murdered RIP 0 comments: Post a Comment

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Demise of two Intelligence Systems

Say it with a sting.....

I have just completed reading a book titled “Really inside BOSS – A tale of South Africa’s late Intelligence Service (And something about the CIA)”. Self-published by Pieter Swanepoel, the book provides a brief history of the Bureau for State Security, (BFSS) or BOSS as it came to be known, and its successor, the National Intelligence (NI).

Although English is not Swanepoel’s first language, he has done a good job in describing, amongst others, the origins of the service, the Smit murders, the assassination of Dr Verwoerd and the role played by the CIA in destabilising the National Party government. He also covers some of the difficulties and frustrations an intelligence officer experiences in the course of his duties. He even relates particulars of a “dirty trick” perpetrated by himself in Namibia in the 1960’s.

The main purpose of the book was to discuss some of the allegations made by BOSS informer, Gordon Winter, after he fled South Africa and published a book called “Inside BOSS” in 1981. The acclaimed British historian, Dr. James Sanders, referred to a number of these allegations in his book about South Africa’s intelligence services, Apartheid’s Friends, and this apparently annoyed Swanepoel and led him to provide another view of these events. Although I have not read Winter’s book, I would be prone to accepting Swanepoel’s version as he cross-references to many documents to prove his writing. Additionally, he spent 32-years in that organisation so he knows what he is writing about. In a recent copy of the magazine, Molotov Cocktail, Dr. Sanders described Really Inside Boss as “a fascinating book” and promised to return to it in a later edition of that magazine.

Readers ought however to take note: the book does not cover intelligence tradecraft and can be heavy reading at times. It nevertheless remains an important account on the history of BOSS.

This book is not available at bookstores. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy can order directly from the author at pietswanepoel@gmail.composted by Eeben Barlow's Milsec Blog at 8:47 AM on Dec 16, 2008

He of difficult days said... There was another book "Gideons spies"

Is it worth anything to read that book?

December 16, 2008 8:31 PM

Eeben Barlow's Milsec Blog said... “Gideon’s spies” is a very good book on some of the MOSSAD operations, HODD.

If anyone is interested in reading about intelligence/espionage matters, I will post something in the future on some good books I enjoyed on the subject.

Rgds,

Eeben

December 17, 2008 6:22 AM

E Richard said... Hey Eeben,I heard a piece on NPR about an off shoot of the ANC, something peoples party. Is this a seriously developing alternative to the ANC in South Africa?Many in our country feel like the only 2 parties that represent us are lost. Is that what's up with you guys?Does the NI have an interest in this or do they let legitimate internal politics play themselves out?

December 17, 2008 7:01 AM

Eeben Barlow's Milsec Blog said... A new political party was created in SA, ER. It is known as the “Congress of the People” – abbreviated COPE. It does appear to be a party that has potential to make inroads into the current political environment. Obviously, in any form of democracy it is not a good thing to have one party dominating the playing field – therefore a strong opposition is necessary. COPE may be an important development as it may break the dominating party’s stranglehold over politics.

Traditionally, intelligence services are supposed to allow the political parties to play the field – as long as the policies are not aimed at destabilising the government, ie, the ruling party. That said, I suspect that the current SA intelligence services will monitor what is happening. Will they interfere? I doubt there will be much interference. The battle between the parties will most likely be fought in the media.

Rgds,

Eeben

December 17, 2008 8:19 AM

He of difficult days said... Jan Lamprecht stated that no "Liberation movement" has ever conceded power peacefully anywhere in Africa. I agree. Do you?

The ANC will not allow itself to be the first "liberation movement" party to meekly submit and meekly surrender power at the polls.

I agree with the sentiment that if the ANC begins to lose power, war on the scale of what we saw in the early 1990s in the Natal region will be a common occurence.

I have reached the stage where I no longer regard the thoughts that SA is heading down the Zim path as mere opinions of Rhodesians but something that is best described as clear and present danger.

I cannot see how, barring a miracle, that the ANC will shakes hands and accept defeat at the polls. This isnt Sweden.

The larger the black middle class becomes, the better it is for whites. The ANC will battle to convince middle class blacks that they have been hard done by whites when they are driving SUVs to work in Sandton

my 2c

December 17, 2008 8:27 PM

Eeben Barlow's Milsec Blog said... I believe, as most people do, that a strong opposition party is a very good thing, HODD. Furthermore, part of what we are witnessing in Africa is a realisation that times are changing and with that, people’s prospects change as well.

As the size of the middle-class increases, so to do its expectations – and its desire to keep what it worked for. With that also comes a need to be protected from issues such as crime, mindless violence and so forth. When these corner-stones of societal need are not there, people will make their voices heard.

Whereas we are witnessing a change in politics, only time will tell where it will lead to. However, I am hopeful that this once-great country will pull itself together and that it will be soon. I am still convinced that only Africans (of all colours) can solve Africa’s problems. I hope I am right.

Rgds,

Eeben

December 18, 2008 6:16 AM

Censorbugbear said... Excellent article on Canadian website:

"Ruling party is plunging South Africa into civil war with its greed, malice...'

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263651

December 18, 2008 12:53 PM

Sonny Cox said... Hi Eben At the end of the day the ANC will stay in power.Let's break their 2/3 hold of the political arena.The DA and COPE can drive the wedge through the middle of their belly.